Electrotype-plate and holder



(Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

v A. W. MARSHALL.

ELEGTROTYPE PLATE AND HOLDER.

N0.3 12,569. I Patented Feb. 17, 1885,

N. PETERS. Pholu-Ldlwgmphen Washinglen. n c,

(ModeL) I 1 2 SheetS She'et 2.

A. W. MARSHALL.

I ELBGTROTYPE PLATE AND HOLDER.

No. 312,569. Patented Feb.- 17, 1886.

UNITED STATES PATENT rrrcn.

ALBERT W. MARSHALL, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ELECTROTYP E-PLATE AND HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 312,569, dated February 17, 1885.

Application. filed January 12, 188 1. (ModeL) To all whom it-maly concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT W. MARSHALL, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Indianapolis, county of Marion, and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Elect-rotype Plates and the Mode of Securing them in the Forms for Printing, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of my invention is especially to improve the means by which newspapers at a distance are furnished printing-matter from a central office in the form of stereotypeplates; and it consists in substituting for such plates an electro-shell made of flexible material without the heavy metal backing now in general use, and in providing such shell with edges extending out beyond the line of the printing-surface to form flanges, whereby the shell may be adapted to a block for the purposes of printing. The shell is formed by an electric deposition of copper or other metal. When made of copper, it is formed in a battery on a wax mold, in the manner followed in making an ordinary electroplate, by which a fac-simile of the type-form is produced. A margin or edge is allowed to form on two or more of the edges of this plate, as and for the purpose now to be described.

In the accompanying drawings I haveshown ways of securing this shell to a block or base.

Figure 1 represents a section of the shell as used in the columns of a newspaper. or aare the flanges for the purpose of holding it in the forms. These flanges, of the'same material and cast integral with the shell, are

turned at right angles with the printing-surface of the shell, as shown in Fig. 2. It is designed that the shell be mounted on a base of wood or metal to make it type-high.

Fig. 3 represents a section of shell adjusted to a movable base, ready for use. The flanges a a lap down on the sides of the base C, which has a plain upper surface, and the columnrule D in Fig. 3 presses against the flange when the forms are locked up, thus holding the shell firmly on the base C, as will be readily seen by any one skilled in making up forms for printing. It is evident that the flanges are adapted, by reason of their flexibility, to be secured to the block in other ways than here shown. In making electrotypes of wood-cuts and other work it is desirable to have the flange above referred to on four sides of the printing-surface of the shell, and, as shown in Fig. 4, these flanges can be made secure to a wood or metal base, by screws or nails, for the purpose set forth.

Fig. 5 represents a dash used in the columns of a newspaper, and provided with flanges at each end to secure it to a base in a similar manner as the section of shell shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a bottom perspective view of the electrotype-shell, and Fig. 7 an enlarged section of the same.

In the process of casting the shell'the electro-deposit may be allowed to thicken to a greater extent than is necessary when backing is to be employed, or the shell may be very slightly backed; but in either case not to a thickness inconsistent with its perfect pliability,or with the advantages to be accom plished by the use of the shell, as will now be stated.

One of the most important advantages of my improvement lies in the fact that by reason of the thinness and pliability of the plate it can be used with all forms of printing-surfaces, whether straight or curved,without readaptation to meet degrees of curvature--an impossibility with stereotype-plates-as, for example, on what are known as turtlepresses, Again, an electrotype-shell thus constructed can be cut byapair of shears into any desired length to adapt the matter to the makeup of the paper, similar to many stereotype-plates now in use, and by reason of its lightness it can be transported cheaply by mail, or if by express or by-freight, at greatly-reduced rates, thus saving a very large amount in the cost of transportation. In this connection it may be said that twenty inches of my improved plate ready to be put on the press weighs half an ounce,.while the same length of the lightest stereotype fit to use weighs a little less than three pounds.

As to cost of production, the value of metal in a twenty-inch stereotype-plate is about twenty-five cents (25c.,) whereas the value of my plate of the same length is less than three ICO cents. A large proportion, at least twentyfive per cent., of the whole amount of material used in stereotypes is lost annually, Whereas such loss in material by employment of this plate is so small as not to be considsidered.

I am aware that in addition to the electroshell with a backing, iron or steel coatings of printed surfaces forming patterns for the purpose of printing therefrom are old, and also that, in combination with a double-faced or reversible stereotype-plate, a flexible GXUGIP sion or margin made of sheet metal or analogous material differing from the body of the plate has been employed; but none of these devices accomplish the objects of my invention as herein set forth. 

